The Department of Music offers courses in the history, theory, technology, and performance of music that cover topics reaching back through history and around the globe. Small classes, individual instructions, interdisciplinary opportunities, and a vibrant co-curricular performance program and concert schedule foster an interconnected environment of dynamic teacher-student interaction and collaboration both inside and outside of the classroom.
Majors: Students considering a music major should enroll in either Music Theory 1 (MUSC 201) and the corequisite lab (MUSC 202) or History of Western Music 1 (MUSC 211). Students with no formal training in music who might be interested in the major (but do not feel ready to take Music Theory 1) are encouraged to take Fundamentals of Music (MUSC 103) to get started. All students interested in music performance are encouraged to enroll in one of the department’s performance ensembles and/or sign up for individual instrumental or vocal lessons. Contact Alice Resker, Music Office Coordinator, for more information about ensemble and lesson opportunities.
Advanced Placement: A score of 4 or 5 earns college credit and counts toward the arts common area requirement. Students with AP credit in Music Theory, prior coursework in, or knowledge of music theory may earn advanced placement in the department’s theory sequence, but AP credit will not count toward the minimum number of courses (10) required for the major.
Courses
MUSC 101
Introduction to Music
Common Area: Arts
A one-semester introduction to art music in the Western tradition, its forms and history, with an emphasis on the major composers of the common practice period. Assignments focus on developing critical listening skills and an appreciation and understanding of Western art music.
MUSC 121
Intro to Audio Recording
Common Area: Arts
Intro to Audio Recording explores, through traditional and experiential learning, the role of the recording studio in music. Through the study of recording studio theory, critical listening and analysis, classroom discussions, and in-depth examinations of seminal repertoire, students will gain insight into the critical role of the recording studio in sparking innovation, and, perhaps paradoxically, shaping musical aesthetics. Through exercises in microphone selection and placement, frequency filtering, audio mixing, and signal processing, as well as a final cumulative creative project, students will engage with the recording studio as a living laboratory. By the end of the course, students will gain an understanding of how to apply the potential of the recording studio to their own creative work, as well as an appreciation of how the recording studio has fundamentally changed the way musicians and listeners alike experience music.
MUSC 140
Song through the Ages
Common Area: Arts
This course explores the power of song in Western culture drawing on both classical and popular traditions. Songs of love, songs of war, songs of worship, songs of protest - every human emotion has been expressed in song. The focus is on questions of expression and shared values in over four centuries of music.
MUSC 143
History of Rock
Common Area: Arts
Survey of rock music from its beginnings in earlier forms of popular music to the twenty-first century. Attention is given to the relationship of rock music to its cultural, political, and economic contexts.
MUSC 201
Music Theory 1
Common Area: Arts
Ever wonder how music works? This course offers an integrated approach to music theory that is applicable to a broad range of styles from the classical symphony to popular song. Through analysis, musicianship exercises, and creative projects, students learn how composers and songwriters use common elements such as rhythm, scales, chords, melody, and counterpoint as building blocks to create unique musical styles. Music 201 is suitable for students from all majors and class years. Prerequisite: Ability to read one or more musical clefs (or permission of the instructor and chair).
MUSC 211
History of Western Music 1
Common Area: Arts or Historical Studies
This course offers a survey of music in Western Europe from the earliest Chants in the Roman Catholic Church to the music of Vivaldi, Handel, and Bach in the 18th Century. To study the European heritage in music allows us to discover an extraordinary variety of music from earlier times and faraway places and to connect these distant musics from long ago to our present. In this class, we will study broad traditions and individual works of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods with an emphasis on aspects of the surrounding culture as well as a range of issues and activities that are involved in the writing of music history. Emphasis will be placed on the development of musical styles, genres, compositional procedures, and performance traditions from many different periods, places, and repertories.
MUSC 218
Jazz Improvisation 1
Common Area: Arts
Introduces students to the fundamentals of jazz harmony and improvisation. Topics include chord and scale construction, harmonic progression, symbols used in improvisation, jazz scales and modes. These theoretical concepts are applied to the analysis and performance of standard jazz tunes. A portion of the class is devoted to performance and improvisation. One unit.
MUSC 231
Music of the Bali-Gamelan 1
Common Area: Arts or Cross-Cultural Studies
Introduces students to Balinese music through the performance of selected pieces from the Gong Kebyar repertory. Instruction provided in the technique of playing the instruments that make up the Gamelan.
OVERLOAD PERFORMANCE COURSES -- Do NOT count for credit toward graduation
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